Content warning: death, violence

***

"Come along." Lady Varali strode ahead, the pink fabric of her sari fluttering behind her as she pulled Esmera along by their bound wrists. She put an elegant hand on the doorknob and pushed it open.

The guards' eyes stayed focused on the distance instead of on the intruders right next to them. Esmera followed their gazes. She didn't see anything except mountains cutting into the horizon with their sharp edges, but she expanded her hearing outwards and focused her attention right there as Tauram had taught her.

There was something, a dull, tapping rhythm like hands on drums or a heartbeat or marching feet that sounded close enough to see, but Esmera saw nothing. She frowned, but the instant she became aware of the sound, it disappeared.

Her brow remained furrowed as she followed Lady Varali into the Finnaaz manor. Again, the guards flanking the door didn't react, not even when Esmera's foot caught on the edge of the doorframe and she apologised out of habit even though she doubted anyone could hear her.

"Are we invisible?" Esmera couldn't help but ask as she looked back at the guards.

"We are because we're inside a memory." Lady Varali turned her dark, placid eyes on Esmera. "Things have played out as they did, and while we may observe these events, there is no way we can alter them, not even with our presence. We are only visitors to this timeline, but we remain in ours."

Esmera tilted her head as she considered that. "So, Tauram can still see us?"

"Yes, but to him, it would appear that we're walking through an empty house even though we're watching the past unfold around us."

"That's why you're called memory walkers," Esmera murmured, awestruck.

She hadn't been unable to wrap her head around the idea when she first heard of it, but it all made sense now.

"Correct." Lady Varali gave a brisk nod with a faint smile.

Another question popped into Esmera's mind.

"Can he also hear us?"

"He can." Lady Varali smirked. "That is if he hasn't chosen to remain outside the house while we explore the inside, which I doubt."

Esmera's cheeks burned. So, he would've heard her asking about him not once but twice. She tried to press her mouth closed, but another question slipped out of it. "What do you mean?"

Lady Varali gave her another half-smile. "I mean that I don't think that man can bear to let you out of his sight, and I don't care if he hears me say that."

The heat in Esmera's cheeks flooded into her ears, and she hoped Tauram was indeed outside slightly more than she hoped he was close by.

"That's not true. When we get back to the cottage, he goes to his room, and I go to mine."

"If you say so." Lady Varali tried to disguise her knowing smile as a pursing of her lips, but Esmera saw it for what it was.

She had only met Esmera once before. She hadn't seen Tauram in over a decade. How did she know so much about them?

It must've been Belaren. It was hard to keep secrets from housemates, but Esmera would have to try harder if she didn't want other people to know more about her life than she did.

Complete solemnity replaced the faint amusement on Lady Varali's face as she closed the door behind her, and Esmera followed suit. They were here to unearth a forgotten secret that would save the kingdom, not exchange gossip about the men in their lives, and Esmera would do well to remember that.

In unison, Esmera and Lady Varali turned to behold the sight of the Finnaaz manor's entrance hall.

Maid scuttled about, the gold-embroidered edges of their long-sleeved, full-skirted brown dresses glinting while their loose burgundy trousers billowed, waving feather dusters and brooms as they passed by one another.

Cooks clad in crisp white aprons hurried past with boxes of eggs and chicken, shouting orders their assistants may or may not have heard.

Messengers wearing deep red tunics and matching turbans scurried about with letters gripped in their fingers, whispered requests, and orders that they had stored in their minds.

Esmera had never imagined a world where every human was accompanied by an animal, but now, the absence of familiars struck her as odd. Perhaps there was someplace they were kept while their sorcerers worked, just as there had been at Belaren's house.

The manor may be little more than ruins now, but it had been breathtaking in its time. Staircases ran up walls and between pillars decorated in sparkling, golden mosaics as they connected to the storey above. A carpet with green and beige mixed in with maroon and gold stood at the bottom of the stairs.

Portraits of people Esmera didn't recognise lined the walls, but she saw parts of herself in them, a cascade of curly hair there, a straight, thin nose elsewhere, hazel eyes crinkled by a smiles. A fountain of glittering water spurted from the raised paw of a stone leopard, giving life to the lotuses floating at its feet.

This was the sort of place Esmera could've only dreamed of, exactly the type of home she would've loved to have grown up in if only some cruel killers hadn't taken that opportunity away from her.

A knock sounded on the door behind her, reverberating through the entrance hall. Every little hair on Esmera's skin stood on end. She tried to dismiss the sickening sense that overwhelmed her as paranoia. How could she feel anything but fear knowing she was visiting the day of her family's deaths?

Even as she tried to justify her undeniable terror, she couldn't shake off the nauseating sensation that this was it. This was the moment when everything had changed for her and her family.

The butler standing beside the door turned to the nearest maid. His bushy eyebrows merged as he frowned. "Lady Yandriya hasn't told us to expect anyone."

The young woman narrowed her eyes, tightening her grip on her mop and pushing a lock of her brown hair away from her face. Esmera wanted to shake them both by the shoulders and tell them to trust their suspicions not to open the door, but another knock rang out.

The maid blinked as she recognised it. "It's the guards' knock," she told the butler. "They wouldn't let anyone into the grounds without verifying their identity. I'm sure it's safe to answer."

The butler nodded and ambled to the door, still looking uncertain. Even so, he ignored Esmera where she stood, stiff with terror at what she knew was about to happen even as she shook her head in a silent "no".

The butler unlocked the door with a sharp click and opened it. The two guards flanked a figure in a black cloak that concealed their face.

"Yes?" asked the butler as he looked between his fellow staff.

"This is a guest of Lord Hudion," said the guard on the right. His eyes shifted to the man, and he readjusted his rifle where it was strapped to his chest.

Behind him, a group of Finnaaz guards had assembled. Not a single patch of green grass was visible, so close were their feet as they stood at attention. Esmera hoped that they had gathered because they were as suspicious as she was of this unannounced guest. She shivered, unable to dismiss the sense that there was something else at play here. Something she hadn't thought of. Something she couldn't comprehend.

Esmera's stomach dropped as she stepped forward to get a better look at the guards. There was something different about their faces since the last time she had seen them, but she couldn't tell what it was.

The butler frowned, looking back into the house. "Lord Hudion is not here currently, and neither are his sons."

Now it was the person under the cloak who answered. "Excellent."

A hand shot out. Esmera had seen those claw-like fingers before, the talon-like nails. She had seen them close around another man's neck the same way they circled that of the butler.

She also realised what was different about the guards. It was the faint amusement that unveiled itself in their eyes as a rot spread from the cloaked figure's hand and through the butler's skin. It was the way their hands lay loosely at their sides even though their weapons were within reach.

It was because they knew they weren't in any danger and never intended to protect the Finnaazes from theirs.

The butler could barely get a splutter out before he fell to the ground, decaying from his cheekbones, past his collar and down his chest. All around him, the staff fell into a shocked silence as they watched him die, as did Esmera and Lady Varali.

Esmera wished more desperately than she had known herself to wish that this mysterious assailant wasn't who she thought it was but someone else with the same power.

But when the cloaked figure dropped his hood to reveal a pale, sharp, beautiful face that was no different from the one Esmera had seen when she went to the palace the previous night, Ruagu was unmistakeable, undoubtedly so when his viper slithered out from under his cloak.

Esmera fought back a sob as her hand came to cover her mouth in shock, in distress. He had destroyed Tauram's family for an obvious reason, but why hers?

Even though Ruagu hadn't introduced himself to the servants, they had seen what he could do. They stared at him with wide, fearful gazes as he smiled around at them, counting off their last seconds with every movement of his eyes.

"Kill them all and take their places." He issued his orders to the guards behind him without turning around.

They dissolved into creatures even more hideous than anything Esmera had seen in her nightmares and they engulfed the house in a wave of terror.

Maids let out shrill screams and ducked behind furniture as the demons plucked them up and broke their necks. Cooks were cornered and slaughtered like the chickens they served at dinner. Messengers ran as far and fast as they could, but their throats were slit before they could express their pleas.

Esmera was about to run, but Lady Varali held her in place.

"They can't see or hurt us, remember?" She kept her eyes on the murderous creatures as she spoke, and Esmera wondered if she truly believed her words.

Even so, she kept her terror at bay. She forced herself to study their leonine faces adorned with red eyes, their clawed hands, and their protruding fangs as their furred, muscular forms merged with the bodies of their victims, healing their fatal injuries and turning the demons into people Esmera's family saw every day. She knew what they were called without needing to be told because Tauram had mentioned them before.

Yaoguai.

Numbness spread through Esmera. Such a trap was the best way to ambush auditory sorcerers. They would hear an army marching on their estate, but they wouldn't if it was hidden in their house, wearing the faces of people they knew and trusted. All the same, she wished Ruagu hadn't been so clever as to think of that.

Even so, she couldn't change the past, as Lady Varali had warned her.

The bloodbath continued to ebb and flow around her as the Yaoguai murdered people and put their bodies on like costumes. Esmera stared around, forcing herself not to throw up until Lady Varali tugged her wrist and summoned her gaze from the brutal scene that assaulted it.

"Let's follow him." Lady Varali gestured to Ruagu.

The villain had turned his back on the massacre he initiated and strode ahead with the two yaoguai disguised as guards still flanking him.

Esmera didn't want to tail him. Her father and her brothers weren't home, but the butler hadn't mentioned her or her mother, which told her that they had to be.

She had seen too much death today. She'd had her fill for a lifetime, but she had to do this. She was already halfway to the truth, and she had to complete her journey. It was the only way she could stop more people from dying and end Ruagu's wicked, violent reign over a kingdom that deserved a better ruler. One like Tauram.

A maid had somehow escaped the slaughter. With rapid, frantic breaths and her dark hair falling out of the bun at the nape of her neck, she sprinted down the corridor ahead. She looked behind her. She couldn't see Esmera and Lady Varali, of course, but she didn't see Ruagu either where he peeked at her from around a corner, holding his hand up to stop his guards behind him. When she looked away, he started after her, his steps quick, quiet, deadly.

The maid kept running, all the way up the stairs. She caught herself on the pillar as she passed it, nearly slipping in her haste. Ruagu was far more agile as he ascended to the manor's first floor after her, his yaoguai even more so.

Ruagu had to be letting the maid lead him somewhere or he would've killed her already. As much as Esmera wanted to, she couldn't resent the woman's falling into a trap. It seemed nobody could outsmart Ruagu, no matter their intentions.

That was why Esmera and Tauram had to be the first.

It was only that desperate hope that drove her forward, onward, even as her feet tried to hold her back from another scene that would undoubtedly scar her.

Esmera and Lady Varali found themselves in another passage at the top of the stairs. A door closed somewhere in the corridor, softly but firmly, and clicking as it locked. They followed Ruagu and his guards along a long, red and gold carpet that muffled their footsteps and each slithery motion of the snake at their heels. They passed by rectangular windows topped with triangular panes set into a semi-circle, past glimpses into a mockingly bright, beautiful midday.

Somehow, Ruagu knew which door to stop in front of. A low, frantic voice spluttered behind it. He tried the handle, and when the door didn't budge, he turned to his yaoguai with a flick of his hand.

The demon on his left punched through the lock and shoved the door open into a nursery. It was so painfully quaint, so cheerful and bright with the pastel flowers painted on the pink walls, but the scene within it wasn't.

The maid who had run up here crouched at the feet of a woman with long, curly, brown hair that Esmera recognized instantly. She had tried to tame the same unruly mane on many mornings in memory.

The maid turned, her eyes going round as Ruagu and his violent allies entered the room. She leaned forward, desperate to pass on the rest of her message while Yandriya Finnaaz stared down at her, a beautiful butterfly with black wings smudged with shimmery blue resting on her shoulder.

The lady's dark eyes widened with fear as words tumbled out of the maid's mouth.

"You must flee, my lady. I know there's a way—"

Before the woman could finish her sentence, Ruagu reached her, touching a deadly hand to her hair from behind. As her head rotted through, she fell forward, her lifeless hand a centimetre away from the shoe of the lady who now looked up at Ruagu.

"Who are you?" she asked, her voice so familiar to Esmera even though she had last heard it so long ago.

"I think that speaks for itself." Ruagu gestured to the body on the floor before looking up with a smile he probably reserved for noblewomen and princes' fiancées. "It's a pleasure to meet you at long last, Lady Yandriya."

She sank deeper into her chair as he advanced on her, holding the bundle in her arms closer to her chest, a valiant gesture but not one that would protect whatever it contained from Ruagu's deadly touch. As if mesmerized, Esmera followed at Ruagu's heels, dragging Lady Varali after her.

When Esmera was near enough, she saw that it was a baby in the blankets, with wispy brown curls and round cheeks. Esmera didn't have any baby photos, but she knew without a doubt that she was looking at herself.

"Same goes for your legendary little one." Ruagu's eyes crinkled at the corners as he smiled again, sending shivers through Esmera. "Future queen, I believe the psychics are whispering?"

Lady Yandriya's eyes never left him, but she remained silent. Her hand came to rest on the ground. At her touch, the floor rippled. It would've thrown Ruagu back if his demons didn't shift into winged creatures that lifted him off the ground and suspended him in safety.

Lady Yandriya took advantage of their distraction, jumping to her feet and dashing for the door, still clutching Esmera to her. When the floor stilled, Ruagu's yaoguai set him on the ground and followed as he raced off in pursuit.

Lady Yandriya had made it out of the door when Ruagu grabbed her by the hair. She cried out, trying to prise his fingers from her curls while cradling her baby with the other.

"You will remember what my power is." Ruagu's voice was low and cruel as he yanked her back and twisted her head to face the maid's partially rotted corpse still lying inside the nursery.

Lady Yandriya looked away with a whimper.

The guards once again borrowed their human forms as they solidified next to Ruagu, inhuman growls rumbling in their throats as they advanced on Lady Yandriya.

"No." Ruagu raised a hand. "Don't kill her or the child just yet. They might prove to be useful."

The one demon ripped the baby out of Lady Yandriya's arms. The child, who Esmera still couldn't quite believe was her, let out a high-pitched wail. The other yaoguai pinned a struggling Lady Yandriya's arms behind her back.

"No, Esmera, please!" She turned her dark eyes on Ruagu. "Please, please don't..." Her face contorted with the unimaginable pain of her fear, and she couldn't finish her sentence.

Ruagu's stare was cold. The charming smile and affable manner he had worn when he entered the room may as well have belonged to a stranger.

"We won't hurt her if you don't do anything stupid." With that, he flicked his hand at the yaoguai who carried Esmera along the passage towards the stairs as they forced her mother to move with them, her butterfly familiar fluttering above her shoulder anxiously.